Recently, we purchased a dresser and desk combo that was in a very sad state.  While it was beautifully and solidly made, it had seen some rough days.  I don’t know how much more it could have been scratched up.  Here are before photos (sorry for garage shots – it rained quite a bit while working on these!).

Is that you Tom?

As you can see – very scratched (and maybe someone named “Tom” once owned it?).  I saw serious potential with these though.  Little did I know they would become the albatross around my neck.  Why?  Well, first off they required a great deal of sanding.  A GREAT DEAL.

But it wasn’t the sanding that made these two so difficult – that was the easy part.  It was the painting.  And painting.  Then some more painting.  I did three coats of primer, and for some reason, parts of the dresser and desk continued to bleed through.  I have no clue why (and if you do – please email me and explain!).  I gave up, thinking it had to be the primer not working.  Okay, at the time it made sense.  So I began painting it the cream color I had visioned for this set.  Four coats of paint later, parts of the original finish continued to bleed through.  In frustration, I decided to go dark and paint it black.  My hope was the bleeding wouldn’t show with a dark color.

After two coats of black, I was right, no bleeding.  Woo-Hoo!!  But I hated it.  I actually couldn’t stand to look at it.  Now that I look back at the photos, it’s actually not bad but at the time I seriously couldn’t look at it another minute.  After nine coats, I decided to go back to cream.  Seriously delusional at this point.  Seriously.  Delusional.  Like Clark Griswold on Christmas Eve.

Yep, after nine coats, why not another?  Back to the original color I went.  Since the black had stopped the bleeding, it only took two coats of cream this time.  That makes for a total of eleven, yes you read right – eleven, coats of paint.  I loved how they turned out – going back to my original vision paid off!  But it wasn’t just the cream color I had a vision for.  There was a finishing touch yet to add.  Take a peak at what that may be below.

I love the fun that the numbers add to the dresser.  A solid antique dresser with a joyful little twist!  And after eleven coats of paint and a few coats of poly, it’s safe to say these are some very well protected pieces.  (p.s. after some help from my mr. wonderful, all the drawers still open and close easily!)

When it comes time to part with these, I don’t know if I will laugh or cry.  I just hope they go quicker than cousin Eddie leaving after Christmas.